I had an appaloosa mare once who would lay in the grass with me for hours. I'd lean against her, my back against her belly, and read a book or close my eyes and enjoy the warmth of the sun at 7,000+ feet.

This was particularly pleasant during our New Mexico autumns. The piñon dotted the high desert like the swirl of spots on Lacey Jay's rump, and way off in the distance, the first snow of the season capped the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Sometimes I'd sit cross-legged on the ground next to the horse, and she'd lay her big speckled head in my lap and doze. I'm sure my neighbors ,who lived on the hill above my pasture at the time, thought this was very interesting, although perhaps in a good way, because they did sell me their Andalusian mare years later. At that point, with an increasingly volatile husband (ex-husband for a good long time now), my home life was very much less-than-tame, which is probably why I found myself sitting outside in the grass with a nice spotted herd animal on a regular basis. My relationship with the appaloosa and the andalusian mares eventually helped me save my life. But that's another story.

Argentine horse tamer Fernando Noailles takes 'Madrid,' a five-year-old stallion out for a short trot on his farm in La Cabrera after taming him. AFP - Wed Dec 21,10:58 AM ET

Given Noailles' laying down technique, it appears that these horses are being brought to him for taming vs. training. While Lacey was a fairly wild and wooly critter when I got her home, I've never participated in or witnessed the laying down of a horse. The fellow who trailered Lacey to my place—where upon her arrival she ripped out of the back of the trailer, nostrils flaring, eyes rolling— spouted off, "Well, you've sure got yourself a little Indian pony. Can't be ridden. Can't be trailered. Can't be led." He should have seen us sunbathing six months later!

Noailles says of his horse taming—

"Since the day I started I've spent every day of my life with horses. The traditional style involved a lot of aggression and violence. Of course, in Argentina there are many wild horses and they respond in their own fashion. What holds true throughout is that the man is the predator, the horse, the prisoner. But you have to respect the relationship, deploy the horse's language. It's not a spoken language. It's body language, it's about energy, the vibrations we all radiate as human beings."

"We're not dealing with a bicycle. They're living creatures, with their good days and bad days. They each have their own personality and you can't treat them all the same way."

"The police brought me one once who was really dangerous, but you learn from the experience. What counts is the horseman's technique."

"I cannot perform miracles. Once, someone brought me an Arab stallion and asked me to give it a Spanish temperament. That's not possible."

"If respect, obedience and friendship are present, then you have the relationship."

Yes indeed.

Sources: La Doma Racional; Pedro Armeste; Pedro Armeste; Argentine Horse Whisperer Casts Worldwide Spell